Quiz TV closes down

Just to jump to a small defence in relation to QM - it is made by a reputable international television company. Fremantle make the shows for ITV2 (as they previously did for ITV1 and for a couple of other Satellite channels).

As well as being behind Neighbours, so they have to be good

We have a casualty. Quiz TV, the first channels to start this whole genre has today closed down due to "due to increasing competitive pressure and uncertainty surrounding the regulatory environment".

Ironically, The Great Big British Quiz (where most of the Quiz TV presenters have gone) celebrates it's 1st birthday today.

Quiz Call is the one that really grates me! I mean, they all stare in ya face like Medusa. "Give....me....a......CALL!"

I've seen several times where the presenter has been staring mindlessly into the camera for 3 or 4 minutes without saying a word.

Broadcasters are to be banned from asking deliberately easy questions on premium phone line competitions linked to TV shows under new rules being drawn up by the Gambling Commission.
The commission, which will become fully operational in 2007 under provisions included in this year's Gambling Act, is expected to clamp down on "dumb" competition questions on premium rate lines, such as "What is the capital of France: Berlin, Rome or Paris?".

It will seek instead to ensure competitions promoted on TV shows in which contestants have to ring premium rate phone lines contain an element of skill.

To get past the new regulations being drawn up by the Gambling Commission, a competition will require a "reasonable belief... that a significant number of potential entrants will be dissuaded from entering because of the level of skill involved".

Neil Pepin, the deputy head of legal and compliance issues at Channel 4, believes the rules will have a significant impact on commercial broadcasters, which have eagerly promoted premium rate phone line competition in recent years as a source of revenue.

"The position will change pretty radically. I think it will hit all broadcasters who rely on competitions," he said.

Media watchdog Ofcom is also becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of regulation of "red button" interactive services, which may take viewers away from the original broadcaster to channels and websites run by third parties.

The Ofcom director of standards, Chris Banatvala, said the regulator had not yet asked for a red button link to be cut by a broadcaster, but added that people needed to be made aware of the prices they may be charged if they clicked through.

"We recognise sometimes people press the red button and may go to a third party, outside an area controlled by broadcaster, and that might be inappropriate. It is matter of degree," he said.

"If you pressed the red button from Blue Peter and went to a porn site we can ask for the link to be severed. It is a growing area and broadcasters are finding new ways of exploiting it. Regulation is behind."

Mr Banatvala said that while it was wrong for ringtone or competition line operators not to tell people how to terminate an agreement, people also needed to know that they could send the simple text command "stop" to the computer.

Within broadcasting, Mr Banatvala said the "main grey area is deciding what is the editorial benefit of related programme material" where a charge is being incurred.

The test has to be the relevance of interactivity. If you want to try to compete on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, you pay £1.20 for the phone call, and that money goes towards the prize - which is OK, he said.

"It can't just be flogging something."